Passed
by oneiromancer242
Summary: Sequel-ish to "Tested" - now that he realises his boy is growing up, can Erik make his peace with his maybe-sort-of-totally-his-girlfriend?
1. Chapter 1

**Following immediately on from "Tested" - you want some Dadneto don't you? I can tell you do.**

Thinking he would be alone, Peter had pulled the zip of his training suit halfway down before he pushed open the door of his room, aching for a shower to batter some of the stiffness out of his legs. Running so hard to evade Erik's shrapnel attack had taken a toll on him, and he knew that unless he got some hot water on his muscles soon he'd be too stiff for a proper morning run tomorrow. Yawning widely, he stopped dead as he entered his room, unexpectedly finding Angela sat cross-legged on his bed with a book open in front of her. How on earth did she sit still and read for so long? He tried to speak, but found no words there, feeling her eyes raking down his body. Though she saw him undressed often enough these days that she really should know what he looked like, the difference between Peter in his usual jeans-t shirt-sneakers uniform and Peter in his skin-tight leather training suit was striking, and neither said anything for a few moments until Angela had let out a breath she didn't know she was holding and said

"Wow…"

He gave her a little wave, a short nervous laugh, dropping his eyes from hers as though the floor was suddenly fascinating.

"Oh… hey Angie…" he said quietly, one hand rubbing the back of his neck. Ugh, sweaty… he really needed to get out of that suit.

"You look….." she paused, took a deep breath. He cheeks were flaming, "amazing"

"S'just my uniform" he quickly moved to zip the suit back up, immediately wishing he hadn't.

"It's very," Angela swallowed hard, "…..tight"

He risked a glance up at her, sped across the room to get some fresh towels out of a drawer, feeling her eyes burning into his back and looking at her in the mirror, noticing with a flush of embarrassment that she was studying his backside with her mouth hanging slightly open. With a huge effort, he pulled himself together and tried to sound cool and collected as he told her

"If you're gonna drool, try not to get it on my sheets"

"Sorry" she shook her head, seemed to snap out of it a little

"Not that I object, but why are you in my room?"

"You forgot?" she gave him a mock-pitying look as he turned back, "Did Jean ram you headfirst into the wall again? Seeing stars? How many fingers?"

She held up three, then four, then two. He responded with a smirk and flipped her off, coming over to perch beside her on the bed.

"I admit it. I forgot – at least I think I did. What did I forget again?"

"You doofus," she giggled, resting her arms around his neck and pulling him in for a kiss on the nose, "We're going out for dinner, how could you forget that?"

She smiled saucily and pulled his face down so that their lips met, sneaking one hand down from the back of his neck to slide the zip of his suit back down slowly all the way to his waist, pressed her palm against his chest whilst she explored his lips with hers. Feeling the thunder of his heartbeat speeding up even more and pulling away with regret.

"Go shower," she told him, "You stink, and you must be starving after training"

"I do not!" he protested, "But I am hungry. I'll be quick, I promise"

As promised, he was ready before she'd even put her shoes back on, taking his hand and making for the door

"That Thai buffet has their all-you-can-eat special on tonight," she suggested, "how about there?"

"Maybe – I'm kinda in the mood for pizza though. Why don't we – Dad!"

He stopped in his tracks as the door opened to reveal Erik with one hand raised to knock. He looked almost embarrassed, then a little disgruntled to see Angela there too. Looking his son over, pleased to see that the tiny cut on his cheek had already begun to close over – it wouldn't even leave a scar with healing like his, which he was grateful for. A good lesson wasn't worth marking Peter's face for life over. He cleared his throat pointedly

"You already have plans for the evening?" he asked, giving Angela a look, "I was going to take you out to eat. I assume you're hungry?"

"The day has a 'Y' in it and I'm awake so yeah," Peter replied, "We could all go though – that okay with you Angie?"

She looked up at Erik, offered him a sickly sweet smile in reply to the daggers he glared at her, and nodded, squeezing Peter's hand tighter. There was no way she was going to let the sudden appearance of Erik ruin the one night off they'd had together all week, and if that meant she had to put up with his company then so be it.

"Awesome!" Peter grinned, "Pizza Planet then? They have an amazing salad bar and I have this incredible craving for fresh lettuce right now"

Both Erik and Angela gave him a long look as if he might have lost his mind, and he allowed it for a second before winking at her and flinging an arm around her shoulders to steer her down the corridor

"As if" he added, falling into step with Erik.


	2. Chapter 2

"And then he just dragged me up into the jet, did you know he can *fly*? It was so cool. Seriously I would have been toast if he hadn't been there, it was amazing"

Shoving a final huge mouthful of fries in, Peter at last sat back and sighed contentedly. Training was great and all, but even after a couple of those awful shakes Hank handed out after he always came away feeling like he could eat his own bodyweight in something. Angela smiled at him gently, noticing that even Erik had a dubious little grin that seemed to suggest that he hadn't been quite as heroic as his son was making him out to be.

"You can fly?" she asked, "Like Superman?"

"Superman isn't real and no, I can levitate using the metal on my shoes. That's not flying"

"It's totally flying" Peter corrected, "Dad, d'you think you could go get me some ice cream? I don't think I can stand up"

"If you can't walk then I think you've had enough" Erik told him sternly, before relenting with a sigh in the face of a very pleading look and going to fetch dessert. Honestly that boy was going to do himself an injury one of these days….

Leaving them alone at the table, Angela toyed with a napkin before she'd quietly said

"You really love your old man, don't you?"

"He's my hero," Peter gave her a fond smile, let his belt out a couple of notches, "I'm not kidding Angie, he really did save my life"

 _After putting it in danger and trying to destroy the world…_ She thought, but kept it to herself.

"He's okay" she said after a while, "I mean, he's weird and creepy and I think he hates me, but he's okay"

"I don't hate you" Erik had reappeared at the table, setting a dish of ice cream in front of each of the two young people, "hate is a very powerful emotion, Miss Goldsmith. I don't waste it"

"Thanks… I think" she licked the strawberry sauce off her spoon, wondered how he knew that she preferred strawberry whilst Peter was crazy for chocolate, "I guess that's a good thing"

"It is. Trust me"

For a little while they ate in silence, until she had pushed the rest of her bowl over to Peter and let him finish it. It was pretty useful having a walking trashcan like him around sometimes. She wiped her face, watched Erik for a moment, then finally said

"I'm sorry we didn't start off so well, Mr Lensherr. I really do appreciate you taking me out, it means a lot"

He made a grumpy noise, but smiled kindly at her

"You seem to be taking rather good care of my son. It would be rude of me not to at least give you a chance. Besides, I rather admire your courage"

"For standing up to you?"

"For putting up with Peter" he smirked. The boy raised his head from the bowl for a moment at the mention of his name. There was a smudge of chocolate sauce on his face and Angela came over suddenly fond when Erik reached out with a napkin and wiped it away. There was something so caring in that small gesture that it said more than words ever could about the deep sense of caring duty he felt toward his son. "Boy, if you make yourself sick you'll have absolutely no sympathy from me, you do understand that?"

Angela laughed heartily at the echo of her own sentiment. Truly, once you got past the prickly exterior there was quite a lot about Erik to like – and to fear of course, but sometimes he did show just that little bit of warmth. She wondered if he always had done, or if it was something that Peter had brought out of him, suspecting the latter.

Later, when they had finally returned to the Academy and settled down on a sofa, Erik took an armchair close by and smiled softly as Peter immediately flopped down with his head on Angela's lap, asleep within minutes.

"He's a good boy really, isn't he?" he said quietly, watching his son's face, "His mother tells me he was quite the tearaway, but he seems to be settling down"

"The school's good for him" she replied, brushed his hair out of his closed eyes

"You're good for him" Erik replied. "I do see that. I hope you understand that Peter is very precious to me, all I ever wanted to do was to protect him"

She kept silence for a few minutes, hand falling out of habit to rest on Peter's full stomach whilst he slept, finally looking up at Erik and asking

"Do you regret not being around when he was a kid? I mean, I know you must have had your reasons, but does it bother you that you missed so much?"

"All the time," the older man replied, "But Charles is working on teaching me that sometimes you have to set the past aside, and look to the future. I sincerely hope that his future will be happier than my past"

It will be, he thought, watching as the girl smiled fondly at his son, one arm supporting his head. Perhaps he would be lucky enough to have her in his life for a good long time. He could tell that whilst her protective instincts toward him were not as ferocious as his own, they were just as strong, and he was realising now that he needed to accept that others could love him too. She wasn't trying to take Peter away – just share him.

"I didn't have a Mom you know," the girl said, "It's tough, just having the one parent. They have to be everything to you all at once. I'm really glad Peter has you now. I think it's helped him grow up a little"

She was right of course. Since he'd come into his son's life he'd watched him change from barely a teenager to this full-grown man who was blossoming before his eyes. He thought again of the beauty of him in movement that afternoon, the determination and power he'd shown whilst Erik put everything he had into besting him. There would come a time, probably not too far away, that no assault Erik could mount would be enough to beat his miraculous son. The thought filled him with intense pride.

"So about that whole trying to destroy the world thing…" Angela began, and gave Erik a questioning look.

"The human world is a mess, Angela. Surely you can see that," he replied with uncharacteristic gentleness, "When a field is no longer producing a proper yield a farmer will set it ablaze and begin anew"

"The world isn't a field," she said patiently, "and it's not as much of a mess as you think"

"Have you never seen how we Mutants are treated then? Never felt an outcast, because of your superior gifts?"

She thought of the gang of older girls who had pelted her with dirt after class when she'd sent the classroom lights blinking again. The ones who whispered behind their hands and giggled maliciously when she approached. The concern and pity on her teacher's faces when they told her to leave the class *again* and go to the Principal's office *again*.

"We're better than that," she replied, "We don't have to be like them. We can be really superior. They'll come around"

"If we make them, they will come around much sooner" he gave her one of those grim smiles, "But on general principles, I think we are in agreement"

She considered it a moment, shrugged lightly and nodded

"I suppose we are," she looked down at Peter, soundly asleep in her lap, "We agree on a lot of things"

At last Erik's smile was warmer. He rose to his feet, scooped his arms under his son and lifted him. Peter made a sleepy little complaining noise, then settled again.

"I'll take him to bed" he said, gathering the little weight up in his arms more tightly, "Thank you for this evening, Angela. I'm glad we made some time for one another"

"And thank you," she grinned, "Hey, can I call you Dadneto now?"

"Never" he replied. She smirked and followed him up the stairs.


End file.
